The invention relates to a lid for a can, the lid having a general shape defining a main plane and a depression arranged in the lid.
Such lids are used for cans in the food and beverage industry. A may be formed out of tin plate, electro chromium coated steel or aluminium. The can is filled with for example food or a liquid and then the lid is arranged on top of the can to seal off the can.
Such lids are in cases provided with a print and may have to be oriented in relation to the can. Orientation of the lid could also be necessary for other process steps. With lids of for example a substantially circular shape, it is not possible to mechanically orientate such lids. It is common to use a vision system in which a camera takes an image of the lids being supplied on for example a conveyor belt, after which the image is processed and the orientation of each lid is determined. Then the lid will be orientated with suitable means in order to have the print in the same orientation as the can when entering into a machine. In another application of lids for cans, the depression is provided in the can and functions as a finger well. This provides finger access and facilitates gripping of the pull tab. It would be preferred to have a deep depression as a finger access. However, this would have a negative effect on the stackability of the lid. The deep depression could rest in a stack of lids on an portion of the underlying lid, for example onto the pull tab, which results in lids not being nested correctly reducing the stackability of the lids. It is therefore common in the field to minimize the depth of a finger well in order not to reduce the stackability of the lids.
If however, the lids could be orientated easily it would be possible to have deeper finger wells, because by correctly mutually orientating the lids within a stack the deeper depressions would not rest on a pull tab but in a depression of an underlying lid. Accordingly, the stackability is not reduced.